Tundra Salvage rebuild Pt.1

When I bought this Tundra I wasn't sure what to expect. The damage didn't seem bad enough to total it in my opinion. Here are the pictures from the salvage listing. Winning bid was $15,200. Let me know what you think.





After getting the truck to my garage, I made a list of observations.

1. The bumper really took most of the hit on impact. It doesn't look like the crush points are bent at all. Here is the crush point right behind where the bumper attaches on the impacted side.


Here is a front view of the impacted side




2. The impact on the front passenger side was hard enough that the driver's side of the truck bed punched the cab. The frame guy that looked at it didn't think it would be an issue.


You can tell that the bed it slightly slanted as it sits now.


3. The transfer case looks like it leaks

4. The oil was almost not on the dipstick and it was super dirty, almost sludgy

5. The interior smells strong of smoke and there are a couple of burn holes on the front seats.

6. It starts, runs and drives no problem!

7. My dad is good with metal and welding, he thinks he can fix the bumper and get the twist out of it. We'll see how that goes


8. It's a 1 owner vehicle and the guy who bought it doesn't seem to have taken great care of it. It looks like he was a little rough on it too. I also found the owner's Instagram and he had this picture on there.

 

Doesn't look terrible. More than I would want to take on at the moment though.
Sub'd to see the progress

 

Looks good, I think you've got a long road ahead of you but in the end you'll have a good truck with a lot of life left.

 

Looks good to me. I'm sure more than a few things will pop up but still seems like a good deal. Good luck.

 

What is that color called? I was in love with the TRD Pro ad I saw back in 2015 with the 4runner and Tundra in that color, but sadly we don't get them here in Canada, would love to get one in that color.

 

Inferno

 

That color is "Inferno". It's a sweet color!

 

subscribed because
1. My favorite color is been rebuilt
2. If I had an opportunity to rebuilt I'd definitely go that route.

While the truck is in rebuild mode, i'd do the following, hope that I am not over stepping my boundries here.
1. I"d get a 2018+ right fender and delete the antenna and get a Fin antenna
2. Upgrade the gas tank from 26 to 38 gallon (Very much everyone complainted about this until toyota decided to update after Mid 2016
3. Upgrade to Led headlights, there is one on sale in the market place right now with the harness ( Not trying to promote anyone but saw that option)

Good Luck.

 

I saw that listing in the marketplace after I bought a set of the LED headlights from @Roman and the harness from @iHacker haha

I will look into the gas tank upgrade for sure

Will the 2018+ fender fit without mods? And then I route the radio antenna to the roof?

 

One of my neighbors has this color on their Taco. It is a great looking color, lots of different effects depending on lighting conditions.

 

Nice find! My daily, a 2013 Outback, and my wife's daily, a 2009 Civic, are both salvage, and I rebuilt both. The Civic had a branch fall on the roof during a rain storm and the trunk filled with water, so it's technically a flood title even though it never really flooded. 9 years later and it's still rock solid. My Outback was drive into a pole, probably one of those kind you see around gas pumps or in front of gas station doors, dead smack in the center of the front bumper and pushed everything back. It needed some frame work, but otherwise was a pretty straight forward fix.

I'm a big fan of this kind of stuff, so best of luck!

 

Alot of life left, just needs a little TLC

 

Super excited for this build. Be sure to post lots of pics during the process!

 

I don't see a reason why it wouldn't but I am no expert.


Also let me see that guarage, its looks like a very big guarage.

 

The real question is, do you need the antenna at all? I would delete it all together but then again, I don’t listen to terrestrial radio. Also the reception is awful anyway.

 

let us know if it was worth it at the end.
$15K plus taxes/fees (?), 150K miles (hard miles maybe looking at the previous owner) and cost to repair.
fun project though.

 

With what that pic shows I would definitely be checking out the rear diff. Hopefully he put a diff breather kit on it before he took it swimming.

 

Yeah, I thought about that.. I would be shocked if this guy took the time to do a breather kit tbh. I'll be flushing it out

 

Hell, if nothing else, his neglect/abuse of your truck shows just how much the Tundra can take. He still got it to nearly 150K miles. Only thing that stopped him was whatever he hit/hit him. I look forward to seeing you restore this gem back to a proper state. Hat's off to your skill and dedication.

 

Nice project. I'd be hard pressed to not cut it up and make a crawler out of it

 

For that money you could have bought a decent running Tundra with a clean title. But - maybe not with the "TRD Pro" logo embossed on the bed

But good luck, should be fun. A guy took a taco in worse condition and restored it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEEgnvA-fY8

 

I wanted a 2014+ Crewmax 5.7L 4x4 under 200k miles and had a hard time finding one for under 24k. Ultimately that's why I went this route!

 

I have to say the “Maintenance Required” message picture made me laugh.

 

This looks like a kick ass project. Looks like fun. I have been looking at CoPart for a similar project but if I do something like this I will have to wait until fall.

 

It's actually my buddy's garage. He buys fixes and sells salvage Fords so he's got a big garage haha

 

Just for you

 

Heyyy nice fine! I decided to either fix the heavy-duty bumper That it has, or buy a new one. There's a lot of deer around here so I'd rather play it safe

 

Good find.. can't wait to see you progress.

 

OP I salute you!

Me and my extended family have restored a lot of cars, but mostly old classics.

You now have to do the same with essentially a new vehicle.

Take a lot of pics, even if they seem silly. This is an adventure, and all of us will want to follow.

I’m subscribing. Now get on it!

 

I started looking on Copart months ago. I had a watchlist of like 15 trucks and I was just waiting for them to have an auction date assigned to them. If you're looking, I would just make a free account and start a watchlist because sometimes it takes months before they actually go up for auction. My buddy said that sometimes you'll be watching a vehicle that never makes it to the auction because insurance changes their mind or the original owner buys it back.